The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-12-22
PEACE ON EARTH. q.
The Change Which Has Lately Come Oyei
the Spirit of Statecraft.

PEACE ON EARTH.
The Change Which Has Lately Come oyei
the Spirit of Statecraft,
1t is happy and significant sign Of
the present state of human enlighten.
ment, and hopeful augury for the
future. that cool, temperate counsels in
the adjustment of international ques.
tions are superseding the old-time arbi.
trament of the sword. Questions, the
mere broaching of which a century ago
would be but the herald to the clash OF
arms, are now settled by a more IA
tional tribunal, and war, that charnel-
house of history. is rapidly being rele-
gated to the obscurity of the barbaric
past. The millennium of peace may not
be exactly upon US. but its dawn is
rapidly approaching. and right, not
might, is fast becoming the presiding
genius of the hour.
The most superficial glance at the
moves recently made, and those in
progress, upon the chess-board of Eu-
ropean politics, will show the change
which has come over the spirit of state
craft No sooner does the aequisitive
bump of one power manifest a DISPOSE
ton of aggression toward another, than
the statesmen of the other powers COM
bine, convince the representative of
the would-be aggressor of the injustice
or foolhardiness of the proposed on
slaught, and promptly puncture the
threatened war bubble. Look at Rus
sia to-day! What keeps her hand from
the throat of insignificant Bulgaria. but
the diplomatic combinations of the
other powers, which tell the autocratic
Muscovite that his grievance, if he has
any, must be determined by another
tribunal than that of his armed legions,
a tribunal before which the little prin-
cipality will have as fair hearing as
her powerful and domineering adver-
sary. Other instances might be cited
TO prove that the genius of peace is
abroad. and that the "pomp and cir
cumstance of glorious war" are rapidly
losing their terrible and bewildering
fascination to nations; but it is a suffi-
cient argument in favor of the potency
of the new order of things that it can
restrain the hand of the most auto
cratic power in Europe. How near we
are to the time when the battle of the
council board will entirely supersede
the saneuinary contention of mighty
armies must be apparent, when so emi-
nent a soldier as General Sheridan is
moved to give expression to such words
as those which came from his lips not
long since at Philadelphia.
The same broad-minded, conciliatory
spirit which now makes its presence
felt in the direction of the policy of ma
tiOns, is likewise present in the councils
that determine the relations between
man and man. Particularly is its in
fluence apparent in the methods
adopted for the settlement of industrial
and in smoothing the diff
fercnces between employers and en-
ployed. There is Il less apparent dis
position on the part of the former to
hold themselves aloof from the consid-
Grafton of the just claims of those upon
whose skill and fidelity the success of
their enterprises are dependent. And
on the part of the latter there is re-
cognitiOn OF the necessity of so regu-
lating their demands within reasonable
bounds as to make their justice appar-
ent, and on the part of both employers
and employed to submit their differ
ences to an impartial tribunal, and to
make the mutual concessions requested
by the arbitrators. Thus the same
generous spirit for the peaceful settle
ment of disputed points is beginning
to dominate the councils of nations
and of men.
The visit and the purposes of the
English peace deputarion to this coun-
-ry calls forcible attention to the happy
influences which are at worl, in behalf
Of humanity; influences which appeal
70 the highest and noblest impulses, and
are destined to achieve the greatest
good to the world. The closing years
Of the present century herald the dawn
Of that which the next century may see
in its full and glorious refulgence. CLOS
ng forever the bloody book of war,
md opening TO the light of heaven and
he pen of the happy chrOnicler the
pure and ne'er-to-b -be-sullied pages of |
1eauteous peace. BLESSED be the |
says the beatitude; and |
we'll may we add: BLESSED be arbitra-
ion, whose mandate is the oracle of |
Budget.